


the end of all things

by VolxdoSioda



Series: Whumptober 2019 [13]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Whumptober Day 13: Adrenaline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 13:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21077810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: The Gods screw up again, and Noctis pays the price.





	the end of all things

“Noctis, this is your Uncle Ardyn.”

Noctis doesn’t want to be here. He doesn’t want to be here, with his father, facing  _ this man  _ again. Bad enough the Gods have tossed him right back to the beginning with all his memories intact. He had thought only realizing near the end of his life just how much everyone had been trying to help him, and how much of a brat he’d been had been the worst of it, but no. No,  _ this  _ was the worst.

Ardyn smiles down at him, and it’s practically instinctive for Noctis to flinch back. His body doesn’t know how to warp back yet, so instead he stumbles backwards into his father’s leg. Of course, Regis laughs, not understanding his son is not five, no matter how small his body appears.

“Still shy, I suppose. It’s alright sweetheart, he won’t hurt you.”

“Indeed,” Ardyn coos, and there’s an underscore of pure  _ malicion  _ lurking behind his eyes, even as he crouches down to eye level with Noctis, extending gloved hands out. 

He knows. He knows and he’s  _ aware,  _ and Noctis probably just gave himself away--

Noctis doesn’t think. He runs. Behind him, his father sighs in disappointment, and says, “I’m sure with time he’ll get better. Be patient with him, if you could.”

“But of course,” Ardyn assures, and Noctis desperately wills tiny legs to run  _ faster,  _ because he knows as soon as Regis’ back is turned--

A sound of a cane moving away. Ardyn, calling, “I’ll just go fetch him, shall I?”

Noctis runs. He runs, but he’s only five, and he tires easily, and Ardyn has great, long legs, and can pursue him at an easy walk.

“Ready or not,” Ardyn sing-songs after him, and Noctis chances a glance back, and there is such  _ hatred  _ in those eyes, a terrible rage in his smile, and Noctis knows he’s not going to survive longer than it takes Ardyn to catch him. Their last life together should have been the End, but it wasn’t, and now there is no sanity left in Ardyn, only a darkness that  _ consumes  _ all that it touches.

And Ardyn means to end it, one way or another.

“Here we go, little  _ Noct.” _

Noctis runs.


End file.
